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Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com
TUSCALOOSA — Fresh off a 68-64 win over Rhode Island on Wednesday, the Crimson Tide (7-2) is in the midst of a four-game non-conference stretch that could make or break its postseason resume.
A win in tonight’s game at Arizona (6-3) would help boost Alabama’s bid to make the 68-team NCAA tournament field in March. The game airs at 9 p.m. on ESPN2.
“Absolutely, we know it’s a great opportunity,” said Alabama head coach Avery Johnson. “There are no unbeatable teams as I look through the landscape of college basketball. Everybody’s beatable on any given night, but you have to play the right way and you have to earn it."
Originally, the Tide’s game tonight was scheduled to be “against a team that potentially was going to have a very low RPI,” Johnson said. But to aid Alabama's postseason prospects, Johnson upgraded the competition to the defending Pac-12 champion.
“We just made a decision that to help our team, especially with what we know is around the corner with four teams that are ranked in our conference. … We’re going to be playing in some really hostile environments,” Johnson said Wednesday. “(Scheduling Arizona) was a strategic decision. I hope it’s going to be a great experience for us in terms of the lessons that we’re going to learn from this game to help prepare us moving forward.”
With its success playing the nation’s 10th-toughest schedule, as ranked by ESPN.com, the Tide has a Top 20 national RPI. ESPN ranked Alabama No. 15 and Rhode Island No. 21 following their game.
When it comes to calculating whether a team deserves to make the NCAA Tournament, RPI is gospel for many prognosticators. Players are aware of RPI, too.
“We pay attention to it, we know the games that we should win or that we need to win, so we’ll really lock in on certain games,” freshman guard Herbert Jones said. “Like it means more sometimes than in other games. … We do (think further down the schedule), but most of the time we try to focus on the game that’s in front of us.”
With roughly three months left before that resume comes into play, Johnson also knows there’s no point in overwhelming his young team with facts and figures that mean little if they doesn’t take care of business on the court first, be it tonight or during the difficult SEC slate still ahead.
“We’re not putting pressure on the team that this is a make-or-break week,” he said. “We can’t worry about Texas A&M on the 30th or going to play at Kentucky (on Feb. 17). We can’t control any of those things. We just got to help this team get better today and hopefully, in the end — 60-90 days from now, whatever it is — we’ll have a good resume.”
Alabama basketball: Tide working on NCAA resume
A win in tonight’s game at Arizona (6-3) would help boost Alabama’s bid to make the 68-team NCAA tournament field in March. The game airs at 9 p.m. on ESPN2.
“Absolutely, we know it’s a great opportunity,” said Alabama head coach Avery Johnson. “There are no unbeatable teams as I look through the landscape of college basketball. Everybody’s beatable on any given night, but you have to play the right way and you have to earn it."
Originally, the Tide’s game tonight was scheduled to be “against a team that potentially was going to have a very low RPI,” Johnson said. But to aid Alabama's postseason prospects, Johnson upgraded the competition to the defending Pac-12 champion.
“We just made a decision that to help our team, especially with what we know is around the corner with four teams that are ranked in our conference. … We’re going to be playing in some really hostile environments,” Johnson said Wednesday. “(Scheduling Arizona) was a strategic decision. I hope it’s going to be a great experience for us in terms of the lessons that we’re going to learn from this game to help prepare us moving forward.”
With its success playing the nation’s 10th-toughest schedule, as ranked by ESPN.com, the Tide has a Top 20 national RPI. ESPN ranked Alabama No. 15 and Rhode Island No. 21 following their game.
When it comes to calculating whether a team deserves to make the NCAA Tournament, RPI is gospel for many prognosticators. Players are aware of RPI, too.
“We pay attention to it, we know the games that we should win or that we need to win, so we’ll really lock in on certain games,” freshman guard Herbert Jones said. “Like it means more sometimes than in other games. … We do (think further down the schedule), but most of the time we try to focus on the game that’s in front of us.”
With roughly three months left before that resume comes into play, Johnson also knows there’s no point in overwhelming his young team with facts and figures that mean little if they doesn’t take care of business on the court first, be it tonight or during the difficult SEC slate still ahead.
“We’re not putting pressure on the team that this is a make-or-break week,” he said. “We can’t worry about Texas A&M on the 30th or going to play at Kentucky (on Feb. 17). We can’t control any of those things. We just got to help this team get better today and hopefully, in the end — 60-90 days from now, whatever it is — we’ll have a good resume.”
Alabama basketball: Tide working on NCAA resume
